Jailbreak
October 16, 2012![FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 file photo, a Libyan walks inside the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, Libya. For decades, Libyans knew Tripoli's Abu Salim prison as one of the darkest tools of Moammar Gadhafi's regime: A hulking lockup where perceived threats to his absolute rule were confined or tortured, or where they simply disappeared. That changed when neighbors stormed the prison this week, using rocks and metal bars to smash the locks off cell doors and freeing thousands of prisoners. The swift fall of Abu Salim ends a dark chapter in Libya's history and shows how little remains of Gadhafi's control. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, File)](https://static.dw.com/image/16308329_800.webp)
The Al-Jadaida prison is for common criminals and is controlled by the justice ministry.
"Security services are on high alert to catch them," said Khaled al-Sharif, the head of the National Guard, in an interview with the AFP news agency. "We are trying to hunt them down and some have already been arrested."
Monday's incident is the second of its kind to occur this year in Libya.
Human rights activist have criticized the Libyan authorities in the past for detaining members associated with the fallen regime of Moammar Gadhafi without bringing charges against them. Gadhafi was captured and killed in October of last year.
The Associated Press quoted Abdel-Moneim al-Hurr, a spokesman for the Supreme Security Committee, as saying no guards were hurt in Monday's jailbreak. This led him to speculate that some of the guards may have been paid off.
mz/av (AFP, AP)